SAUNABLOGGER

Welcome to the cool Saunablogger blog, stories from saunas around the world, from Finnish smoke saunas to luxury spa saunas. Not to mention hotel saunas! The Saunablogger has explored saunas in 36 countries, in a total of 132 saunas. You can also click on the map below to see where in the world they took place.

The Saunablogger articles appeared originally in the Blogspot Planetskier series, at TGR posts, or at the Relaa website. See also the articles about skiing, caving, urban exploration, climbing, cycling, flying, and swimming.

All sauna-related articles:

Rantasauna
Rantasauna is a legendary party place in Otaniemi, in the student village of the Helsinki University of Technology (now called Aalto University).
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June 2024, Rantasauna, Otaniemi Espoo, Finland
Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Sea); Sauna (Normal)

First mökki-swim in 2024... driving on a Jaguar
Too busy, and now without a car I have not been able to visit the summer cottage this year at all. Sigh. But now my car repair shop nicely loaned me a four-liter green '99 Jaguar for the weekend. Very nice! And a fun car to drive. And it was such a bliss to drop into the lake after visiting the sauna. The water was warmer than it probably has ever been on June 1st...
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June 2024, Arkko summer cottage, Teisko, Finland
Car; Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Lake)

Excursion to Myyrmäki
A Friday evening excursion to Myyrmäki, a suburb in Vantaa! I went for a swim in Myyrmäki's community swimming hall, but it was of course also an opportunity to do more sightseeing in the nice weather. And ride more trains... given that my car is broken.
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June 2024, Myyrmäen uimahalli, Myyrmäki, Vantaa, Finland
Sauna (Normal, Steam); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool)

Hotel Vema Spa
Hotel Vema is a brand new hotel in Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Visoko is a small town near Sarajevo, maybe a 20 minute drive away. It is perhaps best know for the Bosnian pyramids, pyramid shape mountains that some claim actually are ancient pyramids. More on that story later... but for now, we will focus on this wonderful hotel!
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May 2024, Hotel Vema, Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool)

Urheiluhallit kallio
My first time visiting the Kallie swimming pools. Very nice!
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May 2024, Urheiluhallit Kallio, Helsinki, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)

Sveitsin uimala - Switzerland swimming in Hyvinkää
After my visit to Usmi, I felt like I *really* needed to have a shower. And a sauna and swim would be a bonus. Fortunately, Hyvinkää's Sveitsin Uimala was nearby. Very, very nice. Indoor and outdoor pools (from June 1st), multiple pools, very nice saunas, clean, and at a nice pine forest area on top of the hill.
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May 2024, Sveitsin uimala, Hyvinkää, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Outdoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)

Swim in the Tammisaari swimming hall
I visited Tammisaari on a Friday evening, after a tough work week. It was sunny... my crappy car was still kind of running (but few weeks left), and the swimming hall, the Tammisaari beaches, and Tammisaari in general were just wonderful.
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May 2024, Tammisaaren uimahalli, Raasepori, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal, Steam)

Järvenpää and Nurmijärvi swims
Like skiing or sex, they are always at least good, sometimes great :-) While looking for spare parts for my car, I managed to also stop at the Järvenpää and Nurmijärvi swimming halls. Very nice, both of them. But I was particularly struck how nice Nurmijärvi's hall was. Or Rajamäki's hall rather, Rajamäki belongs to Nurmijärvi, and is also famous for their alcohol production.
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May 2024, Rajamäen uimahalli, Nurmijärvi, Finland; Järvenpään uimahalli, Järvenpää, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool)

Back in the K.O.R.S.O.
Me: "Last time I was here was 35 years ago." Receptionist: "Not much has changed since then.". But, Korso's swimming hall still rocks. Small but functional.
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April 2024, Korson uimahalli, Korso, Vantaa, Finland; Korson siirtolohkareen luolanen, Korso, Vantaa, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal); Caving (Basic, Rock, Morphology-Boulders, Rock-Gneiss)

Omorika - swimming in the old Yugoslavia army hotel
This really is an experience. An old Yugoslavia army hotel, now a tourist destination? Omorika sits in the Tara mountains in southeastern Serbia, close to the Bosnian border. The architecture is just right, it does say Yugoslavia. While the all-inclusive model in an affordable hotel may not be to everyone's tastes, it was quite reasonable experience, fish for dinner, etc. And the saunas and pools were good, even if the other facilities were a bit 1960s...
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April 2024, Hotel Omorika, Planina Tara, Kremna, Serbia
Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)

Hot in HEL
Go against the flow - from HEL to SIN this time. On my way to the IETF meeting in Brisbane. First row seat on this first leg at the appropriately hot lounge in HEL.
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March 2024, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Flying

Pool and sauna at the Hope Street Apartments
While in Brisbane, I stayed at the Hope Street Apartments, a hotel/service apartment facility in South Brisbane next my conference venue. Affordable, my own kitchen, laundry machines in the apartment, etc. They had a pool and sauna as well. Of course, otherwise I would not have stayed there :-)
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March 2024, Hope Street Apartments by CLLIX, South Brisbane, Australia
Swimming (Water, Waterbody-Pool, Outdoor); Sauna (Normal)

Siltamäki suburb swimming hall
I realized there's more swimming pools in the Helsinki area that I have not visited. Today I visited the Siltamäki swimming pool. a small sports facility in the suburb of Siltamäki in Helsinki. My expectations were not high, and the pool being four lanes, 17m long, and only 80cm deep for half it... it wasn't a super good place for laps in the pool. But, it was a nice visit to a new place! And the sauna was just perfect temperature and design.
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January 2024, Siltamäen uimahalli, Siltamäki, Helsinki, Finland
Swimming (Water, Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)

Want Bormio spa
There's a more famous spa in Bormio city center, but ... this is something else: QC Terme Bagni Vecchi. Nestled in the high mountains above Bormio, on the road to the famed Passo di Stelvio... like a castle with indoor and outdoor pools, a sauna in a cave heated by the natural thermal waters.
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January 2024, QC Terme Bagni Vecchi, Bormio, Italy
Swimming (None); Sauna (None)

Matinkylän uimahalli, now with parking
I've been to the new Matinkylä swimming hall before, but it was only now I realized how to park in their garage! The swimming hall is a block or two away from the massive Iso Omena shopping mall, where I've parked before. But I kept wondering how come people were walking to the garage underneath the swimming hall, yet I couldn't see a way to drive there.
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January 2024, Matinkylän uimahalli, Espoo, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)

The Studio Sauna Again
I've been here before, but again... The Studio Hotel is a modern but nice hotel in Kista, where I often have to visit for work. The rooms are pretty small, but it is very affordable (61€ per night), has a good breakfast, is walkable but not too near to the offices, has parking, and most importantly, has a good sauna that is open late night.
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January 2024, The Studio Hotel, Kista, Stockholm, Sweden
Sauna (Normal)

This is the 1th set of articles. The next sets are set 2, set 3, set 4, set 5, set 6, set 7, set 8, set 9, set 10, and set 11.